#also i apologise if i actually have gotten lore wrong- this is just based on how i understood the story of Splat2

[a-oct0]

I was thinking about this while trying to sleep last night and figured I could share my thoughts on this topic- but I should preface this by saying while I love Callie a lot I am in no way a Callie expert and that this is just my personal understanding of the whole hypndoshades ordeal. (And also I just wanted to write/ramble about something honestly lol)

So to begin- Callie 100% went to the Octarians by her own choice, she went to them willingly sometime just before Splat2. After the Squid Sister splatfest she and Marie went on to expand their solo careers and such as said in game, but the pressure of constantly being in the spotlight started to get to Callie, especially after she was publicly declared as being lesser than her cousin. She needed some sense of escape and she went to the only ones who she felt could understand that feeling... The Octarians. It does seem like Callie at least enjoyed her time there, she decorated the canyon, redesigned the soldiers outfits and probably uplifted the overall mood of the Octarians. Be that before or after the shades I don't know- But I think at some point Octavio realised that Callie would leave and go home, leaving them. I think that's what spawned the hypnoshades- he used them not to kidnap her out right but as a way to convince her to stay, not wanting to lose what had basically become a light in the dark for his people. The shades do seem to make Callie act a bit different but I don't think they're programmed to make her personality different, I've always viewed it as if the shades gave her this- sense of freedom, that she can say and act how she wishes just maybe slightly exaggerated by the shades. Now of course Marie was able to hit the shades off Callie's face which "returned her to normal" and tbf by Splat3 it seems like Callie has worked through her issues, slowly making her way back into the public eye solo.

Now this part- is all just complete headcanon and tied to my own Agents/NSS lore but I wanted to share some of it as well lol- While I get the game making Callie put the shades back on because "they look cool" as a way to add her back to the boss fight was well that- literally just a way to add her back to the fight- I personally think she did in fact put those shades back on. She put them back on again and again as an unhealthy coping mechanism, to return to that sense of escape from her very public life. Marie "snapping her out of it" did not fix the issues she had and so Marie (And Agent 4) fought Callie and Octavio again and again- each time Marie hitting Callie in the face with low tide ink. Low tide ink is probably a very dense and generally harmless type of ink but even with that constant exposure would have to leave a mark right? (This is the reason I tend to draw Callie with the green eye scar.) I think gaining this scar over time would snap some sense into Callie- finally realising just how- dangerous and mentally unhealthy her constant use of the shades are, it would be difficult but she realises that she needs to seek proper help or the cycle won't end no matter how hard Marie and Four try.

[wildissylupus]

I'm going to apologize ahead of time since this ask might be long. Anyway, I was the one who was talking about the found family dynamic and spuriken (idk why I did anon). I hope I didn't come across as trying to convince you to change your mind. I just wanted to put my thoughts out there. I knew 1000% it wasn't going to be canon, but it still stings.

Anyway, I wanted to see what you thought about Ramattra and Genji. I've been thinking that they kind of mirror each other. An omnic with humanity forced upon him and a human rebuilt with machinery to help him live. I saw the cutscene with Zenyatta and the datalog where Genji talks about Ramattra's machines. I'm sure he saw a little bit of his Blackwatch self in them with their recklessness and anger.

It makes me wonder/hope that Genji will play a role in stopping and/or helping him heal from what he's done. Maybe not as large as Zenyatta, but maybe Genji can get to Ram somehow with his own experiences? I know Overwatch's story has just started, but I'm already thinking about where they could take it.

Don't apologise! I didn't really read your ask that way! And even if I did, you were nice about it and it seemed like you wanted to have a discussion, which I'm always happy to do!

Now let's talk lore!

I agree with your take. Genji seems like one of the few characters who aren't Zen who seems to have an emotional understanding of Ramattra, and considering they haven't even met yet that's saying a lot. I think this would be helpful for other characters too, listen, I don't want Ramattra to get off scot free. He's actively taking the free will of others, something that we are shown in the Story Missions is a terrifying and wrong thing.

But we also can't ignore the fact that he is also being manipulated by Talon (which is something I want to get into in a different post). There is also the fact that I think a lot of characters, specifically Pharah, Jack, Reinhardt, and some others, might make risky decisions purely based on emotion and not think about the consiquenses of killing Ramattra (ie, someone pulls a Rialto).

With Genji seemingly taking a more grounding role in the story missions I do think he'll be a big part of making characters see the big picture in certain situations. We have to remember that, like Cassidy, Genji is at the end of his arc, but unlike Cassidy he's actually delt with his issues in a positive way, aka he's the only character who's canonically gotten therapy.

I don't think he'll play that big of a role in Ramattra's story, I think that's reserved for Zen, but he will probably play a part.

(Also I would like to point out that Ramattra and Genji kind of share a voiceline, that being when someone asks what Zenyatta did before the Crisis they both go "he won't tell me either", probably doesn't mean anything but it's a nice parallel!)

[nuttersincorporated]

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions, Finevoice. The funny thing about morality is that you can justify anything if it’s in the pursuit of a greater good. It’s all a matter of where you draw the line.”

Okay, so since my thoughts on the storylines are getting longer, I’m going to start putting them under a ‘keep reading.’

The ‘Gun and Sorcery’ storyline, like ‘His Blue Soul’ before it, continues the trend of giving us brilliant and interesting character development which I just love. It also, more than any storyline before it, is a bunch of shorter subplots held together by the main plot of the mysterious Gunslinger. It’s fun to watch the short storylines within the larger one.

I like the lore we learn in this storyline about how magic works in the AT4W universe. It’s interesting and not something I’ve seen done before.

I remember Linkara saying, when this storyline was first airing, that a big part of the reason he wanted to do a storyline about Linkara possible turning evil was because of the TGWTG Anniversary specials. Doug Walker (the Nostalgia Critic) tends to write the other reviewers as all being jerks even when they aren’t normally and Linkara’s character was no exception. Since Linkara is one of the reviews who likes the reviewerverse the most and tries to keep everything in the same universe, he wanted to address the way his character behaved in the anniversary specials which is why the majority of the flashbacks of him being ‘evil’ are from them.

Holokara is terrifying and he makes a great villain. The implication that Linkara could one day become like him makes his actions seem all the worse. The times Holokara calmly threatened to maim and kill the others, all with a smile on his face, were so chilling.

Here’s the thing though; while I do believe that our Linkara had and still has the potential to turn evil, I don’t think he’d ever have become the same brand of evil as Holokara. At times, Linkara has been angry and unreasonable, he’s contemplate doing terrible things in the name of the greater good, he’s yelled at people for annoying him but he’s never hurt 90’s Kid (now 90’s Dude) simply for annoying him or calmly threatened to maim Harvey Finevoice for disagreeing with him.

A few months before Holokara grabbed 90’s Kid’s heart, when Linkara was very stressed he yelled at 90’s Kid in anger that he could throttle him. He then immediately apologised when Harvey called him out on it. Holokara grabbed 90’s Kid’s heart and threatened his life because 90’s Kid had interrupted his review. Linkara wouldn’t have done that. A version of our Linkara, that was farther down the road of evil, might have yelled at 90’s Kid at the time of the interruption, he might even have punched him but he wouldn’t have done what Holokara did.

Yes, Linkara was heading down a darker path. If Margret hadn’t intervened, he might have turned evil but in a different way. He could have become more selfish, powerful, pushed the others away and maybe even decided to take out people he deemed a threat before they even did anything. He wouldn’t have been willing to murder innocent people over a comic book storyline he disapproved of.

That leaves us will the question of why Holokara turned out the way he did if our Linkara wasn’t destined to become like him. I have a theory.

Technically, Holokara should have been LESS evil than Linkara. Think about it. Holokara was first brought online so that Linkara wouldn’t get trapped in Silent Hill again. He is based on scans of Linkara’s brain before he faced the Entity, before Lord Vyce came back for the first time and those things contributed to Linkara heading down a darker path. Word of God says Holokara was never used between Silent Hill and being brought back online to review comics while Linkara went on his quest.

Why is Holokara evil? Well I think Whately succeeded in his plan more than anyone realised. He wanted to hollow out Linkara and use him as a vessel to spared the message of the Entity and Silent Hill.

Obviously, Holokara didn’t die when Pyramid Head stabbed him through the chest but I do think that some of the magic of the place changed Holokara in a way that wouldn’t show up in a normal scan of the mobile emitter. Holokara wanted to choose what stories got told and was willing to use fear and force to achieve it, just like Whately wanted.

Poor 90’s Kid. He always seems to get the rough end of things. Someone hug my baby! He deserves better!

For me, the ‘Gun and Sorcery’ storyline is the one where Linksano finally completes his journey from villain to hero (all be it while being a very chaotic form of good). He is now a loyal member of the comicrew and I think he should be trusted completely. I admit that when Linkara first started employing him, I expected him to turn on the others at some point. After Holokara, I no longer believed it.

The others could be counted upon to team up against Holokara and try to take him down. However, it would probably have been safer and easier for Linksano not to help. Hell, he could have warned Holokara about the plan and tried to get on his good side or used this as the perfect distraction to start his own evil scheme. He didn’t do that and instead did everything he could to take down Holokara down with the others. He is officially one of the good guys now.

Yey! It was great to finally learn Margret’s name and see her talking with Linkara.

Harvey Finevoice’s backstory is just heart breaking. Harvey needs a hug too.  There where jokes the year that storyline happened that Linkara had ruined Christmas with feels. AT4W! The mainly light-hearted comic book review show with more dead children than you’d expect.

I’m glad Harvey was able to let himself finally move on from Charlie’s death rather than trying to replace him with Linkara. To me, he’ll always be the unofficial dad of the group but he’s no longer just doing it because Linkara reminds him of Charlie. He cares about the others in their own right.

It’s nice to watch Linkara fight Insano again. Insano doesn’t do much actual villainy these days. I like the fact that Linkara tried the whole “I have a holodeck. You don’t need to do this,” thing with Insano but, unlike with Linksano, it didn’t work.

Jaeris is awesome. I love every minute of him. Like Linksano said about good intentions and the path to hell, Jaeris only wanted to be a hero and save his world. Things weren’t to be and you could argue that he was forced by necessity into the role of anti-hero.

Despite how understandably angry Jaeris was after Linkara destroyed his watch (though I don’t think either character was completely right or wrong in that situation) he still chooses to fight alongside him to stop Insano. He might not be ready to call Linkara friend yet but he’s willing not to be enemies.

Everyone in AT4W needs a gosh darn hug so bad! Poor 90’s Kid, Linkara, Harvey Finevoice, Jaeris and Nimue! They all face hardship in this storyline. Linkara has really gotten into his stride of setting up future storylines now what with Nimue’s malfunctions throughout ‘Gun and Sorcery.’

Want to know my thoughts on the other storylines? Here are links to them which I’ll update each time I give my thoughts on a new completion.

His Soul is Blue

The Other Insano

All That He Sees, He Conquers

A Piece of the World is Missing

His Blue Soul

Gun and Sorcery (you’re already here)

Ghost of the Machine

The Machinations of Worms

The Sleepwalker (I’ve not done thing one yet)

[thistlepath]

Scouts lore

  There are three main races in the Scouts universe, Humans, Alveans, and Carlec. I’ll be talking about all of them, but for now I’m going to focus on the Carlec.

     Carlec are humanoid, reptilian predators that, in the distant past, lived in wandering packs that practically ruled their island home. They’re typically between 6-7 feet tall, not counting the horns, and very thin with long, thin tails and ears. Their bodies are covered in dark brown-gray scales and have sharp spines running down their arms and backs as well as bladed plates at the tips of their tails. They have either red/brown or gold/brown eyes, depending on region, and black or dark gray hair.

     The differences between male and female Carlec are much, much less obvious than in the other two races, since they’re reptilian rather than mammalian and have always lived in an environment where both those hunting and those raising offspring have to be really good at fighting. They’re all of about the same size, color, shape, and temperament. The best way to tell the difference is their horns and tails, with males nearly always having short, straight horns and simple tail-blades while females have longer, more curved horns and more blades. This comes from their days as wandering hunters, the females looking bigger and more threatening to better scare predators from their young, while the males were better able to hide and ambush their prey.

     While the Carlec used to inhabit the entirety of the island, they now mainly live in one corner of it. Their population is split between the marshes, where their royalty and dye-makers live, and the mountains where miners and jewelers live. The marshes are actually a collection of swamps, rivers, and actual marshes. They’re filled with dangerous creatures and plants, forcing the Carlec who live there to adapt and become just as dangerous as their environment. The Carlec who live there are more serious and deadly than their mountain-dwelling counterparts. The mountains are, well, mountains. They’re inhabited by much less violent creatures, though the terrain itself is still pretty unsafe. It’s mostly barren, rocky slopes and tunnels, though wooden platforms and bridges have been built, along with gardens, to make it more habitable. The Carlec native to the mountains are smaller and less pointy than their counterparts, but are also more agile and built for climbing and chasing prey long-distance.

     Carlec religion is based around the idea that, at one point, everything was made in the image of their lonely deity. The reason everything is so diverse is that the more people move away from her teachings, the more they change to reflect their choices. So basically, doing bad things can literally turn you into a monster. Animals, plants, rocks, and even the other races are all direct results of this rule. This also works in reverse, which they “prove” by pointing out that the humans have gotten darker skin and hair since they came to the island and started learning from the Carlec. (really, it’s just the sunny, dry area they’ve been living in since then. Or is it? Yeah, it is.)

    They communicate with their deity, and with the dead, through song. They believe that that’s the best way to get other-worldly people to listen to you. They’re taught to be kind, helpful, accepting, and peaceful people. If anyone strays away from those rules, well they aren’t really Carlec anymore. That, or they’ve been possessed. Either way, that means that all Carlec are kind, helpful, accepting, and peaceful. There are no exceptions.

 The Carlec believe that the body is a container for the soul, and that death is, rather than the soul leaving it’s “container,” just the body ceasing to function. It’s like sleep paralysis, but permanent.

The Carlec are also the only race to believe in “ghosts” (which they call Xinitenav) and take preventing them incredibly seriously. Xinitenav can be created in several ways: 1: a body is left to rot (or burn, be eaten, etc), with no one to sing for them. Once the body is gone, the Xiniten is free to roam, but forever in horrible pain. People accused of being possessed by these spirits include those with depression, anxiety, and PTSD. This type of Xiniten is called a Xiniten-vani. 2: someone is significantly wronged by another person, and they aren’t given an apology or revenge before they’re buried. The Xiniten will refuse to move on, despite the horrible pain this causes them, until they get one or the other. Those accused of being possessed by these spirits include literally anyone who harms another person. This type of Xiniten is called a Xiniten-xovl. 3: someone dies, but has someone or something they feel they must protect. They refuse to move on, once again causing them immense pain, until they’re certain that whoever it is is safe. These spirits don’t possess people. This type of Xiniten is called a Xiniten-lovx. Carlec, for obvious reasons, do their absolute best to keep any of those situations from happening. Funerals are massive gatherings where the deceased is reassured of their family/friends safety, anyone who may have harmed them apologises, and everybody gathers and sings to guide “angels” to retrieve the spirit.

 The Carlec are currently lead by a queen, but they have had both kings and queens in the past. Gender matters much less to them than skill, whoever’s better at a certain thing gets to do that thing (hunting, making, selling, leading, etc.) in fact, probably due to their tolerant nature and lack of obvious differences, gender usually doesn’t matter to them at all. They don’t have words for ‘he’ or ‘she,’ just ‘that one.’ The only gendered words they have are words for family members(meant for clarification) and words they’ve borrowed from humans (like king and queen.)

 What matters to them instead is, once again, what you do. They have two basic jobs, hunters and makers/sellers. Hunters, obviously, gather food and guard the village/home from dangerous creatures. Makers, just like it sounds, make and sell things like dye, jewelry, fabric, houses, etc. they often take turns watching over their children, but not always. A typical family has one hunter and one maker, giving them food and a source of income. No one in Carlec society would care, or even notice, if two males or two females become mates, but if two hunters or two makers do the same they’re going to get some odd looks.

 Carlec children are taught by their parents, learning everything required for their chosen career. If they want to hunt they learn from their hunter parent, if they want to make/sell then they learn from the other. That’s the way it’s “supposed” to be. When a couple is made up of two parents with one career, there’s no way to teach them the other. Because of this, rather than just leave it be and have a neighbor or something teach your kid if they don’t want your career, they practice a kind of polyamory. two hunters can become mates with two makers, or a widowed maker could become mates with a pair of hunters, for example. They aren’t necessarily, or often, actually romantically or sexually involved with/interested in the other(s), but the hunter(s) take on the name of the maker(s) and they are all seen as the parents of any children they might have. There are different words for mother and father to use for each pair, depending on who your biological parents are.

 The way Carlec buy and sell to/from each other isn’t with money, though they would accept it, it’s in favors. For instance, If you’re family's hunter is sick or just unlucky and you can’t get food, you can just go to the family you gave a rug last week and ask them for some of theirs or vice versa (offering food in exchange for items.) once someone can no longer hunt or create for whatever reason, they are considered an Elder. Elders are the leaders of their towns and cities, even the king and queen must take orders from the elders living in their city in most circumstances. Elders are taught to be healers, religious leaders and scholars, they’re also the only ones who get to learn and sing the songs required to directly contact their deity, rather than working through the “angels” to send messages.

 The Carlec language is very simple, at least it is if you completely ignore the non-verbal parts of it. They don’t like the idea of having multiple words for one concept, for instance “to be.” english has “is, am, are, etc.” the Carlec just have “Luk.” to show tense, subject, etc, they flick their tails and/or ears in different directions.

 Older/past tense: “Cz” (chi) at beginning of word. Younger/future tense: “Iv” (eev) at end of word.

 Plural: ad “Av” or “Al” to the end of the word.

 Negative: add “Init” to beginning of the word.

 Goodbye: Ricenit  bye: Ice  hello: Lvottl  hi: Ott

 Brother (related): Niivet   older: Czniivet   younger: Niivetiv

 Brother (unrelated): Nii   older: Cznii   younger: Niiv  

Sister (related): Xilivt   older: Czxilivt   younger: Xilivtiv 

Sister (unrelated): Xil   older: Czxil   younger: Xiliv

 Mother: Xitilvt   Mommy: Iti   Father: Naviliit   Daddy: Ili   Non-bio parent: Xinil informal: ini

 mate: Lovani

 Grandmother (related): Czivt   Grandmother (unrelated): Czit

 Grandfather (related): Czivet    Grandfather (unrelated): Czet

 Cousin: Xinii

 Human: Khavilarn   Alvean: Ssvavll

 Food: Khavili   Fish: Svivali   Drink: Vilviv   water: svifet

 Ghost: Xiniten   wandering: Xiniten-vani   vengeful: Xiniten-xovl   guiding: Xiniten-lovx

 Lost: Teneit   Wander: Vani

 Hurt: Xovl   Help: Lovx

 me/i/my: Kh   You: Xn   That one(singular pronoun): Na   It: Ts    we: Khav   they: Xnav   is/am/be/are: Luk

 Yes: Xci   no: Init

 Welcome: Xcivani   good morning: Xcitelev   good evening: Xciniitih

 excuse me: Khvani

 Safe: cii    Little: alit   Child: aliott

 Name: Isict

 When Carlec speak they often seem fidgety because their language heavily relies on body language like flicking their ears, waving, twitching or lashing their tails, looking in different directions, etc.

 They also have quite a few sounds that don’t quite translate into words, but have meanings, kind of like screaming or laughing but much more. For instance, a sound sort of like a loud purr is used to express a feeling of protectiveness and responsibility. It’s often used to comfort scared children and as a subtle threat to whatever’s scaring them. Sounds like this can be layered over actual words, adding to their meaning. For instance, saying “everything’s going to be okay.” While “purring” is more… active? It makes it sound like you are going to make it okay. Saying the same thing while making a different sound, similar to a hyena's laugh, makes it sound sarcastic.

 Here are some examples of Carlec grammar, since I have no clue how to properly describe it.

 “Give it, book, you to me.” “Is mine name, ———.” “Caught it, black cat to brown mouse.”

 These are the letters and their sounds (the capitalized letters in the example words)

 Hard letters are used to describe things that are rough, sharp, courageous, strong, etc. soft letters are used to describe things that are smooth, kind, weak, cowardly, etc. neither are inherently good or bad, meanings are assigned to them by the words and names they form.